Seattle: Passionate Civil War expert offers course; Also looks at early 20th Century

From West Seattle Herald: Passionate Civil War expert offers course; Also looks at early 20th Century

SSCC Continuing Education, and Daystar Retirement Village
By Steve Shay
2011-09-24
Historian and Civil War expert Pete Mazza returns to South Seattle Community College Continuing Education with his series The American Civil War – Beyond the Battles focusing on a unique look at the Civil War, to start Thursday, Sept. 29 and run for 8 weeks ending Nov. 17. All are welcome to enroll.

Mazza also offers a free course at Daystar Retirement Village, 20th Century History, From the Franco Prussian War to Korea and Beyond scheduled weekly to begin Tuesday, October 4th from 1:15 to 2:45 and ending Nov. 22. All are welcome to enroll.

To sign up for the Civil War courses, visit www.learnatsouth.org or call (206) 934-5339.

This will be Mazza's third time teaching there, and Daystar points out that people can attend one session that covers their favorite topic, and need not feel obligated to attend all sessions. They add that folks of all ages seem to appreciate Mazza's passion for history.

To sign up, call Daystar at: (206) 937-6122. Again, no charge.

SSCC Course outline for his Civil War series:

Session 1. Ante Bellum Years - The Seeds of Dissention - Washington & Jefferson – Unspoken & Unresolved Conflicts – Failed Compromises – Fanning the Flames – Dred Scott Case - Political, Social & Economic Divisions – The Election of 1860 – Lincoln’s Inaugural - Secession of the Lower South - a House Divided – The Stage is Set.

Session 2. On the Eve of Destruction – Civil Discourse Ends – April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter – Lincoln’s a Call to Arms – The Upper South Secedes - Saving the Border States - Military & Non- Military Advantages & Disadvantages of Both Sides - The Anaconda Plan – 1st Manassas/Bull Run – The Trent Affair – Iron Ships, the Naval War & Blockade

Session 3. Prelude to the Western Campaign – Shiloh, the Western Rivers & Beyond - The Price of a Union Victory – The Tools of Death – McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign – Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign – 2nd Manassas/Bull Run.

Session 4. Pressure for Emancipation - Impact of the Underground Railroad - Antietam, a Technical Victory – Announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation – The Confederate Heartland Campaign – Disaster at Fredericksburg - Lincoln’s Dilemma, the Need for Military Leadership – The Dismal End of 1862 - the Engine Room of the War: Finances and Supply - Women at War.

Session 5. 1863, the Fulcrum Year - the Emancipation Proclamation Becomes Effective- Chancellorsville – Lee’s Greatest Victory & His Greatest Loss – Grant’s Siege of Vicksburg – Ironclad Gunboats on the Rivers, Commodore Foote and Admiral Farragut – the Gettysburg Campaign, Leaders and Slackers – the Famous “High Water Mark” for the Confederacy.

Session 6. Chickamauga, Chattanooga & the Battle Above the Clouds, the Confederacy’s Last Gasp in the West– Rosecrans’ Blunder - George Thomas Saves the Union Line – Grant to the Rescue and Victory - Grant’s Overland Campaign Strategy – Grant Presses on from the Wilderness to Spotsylvania to Cold harbor.

Session 7. Sherman’s Campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta – Sherman’s Capture of Atlanta Assures Lincoln a Second term - Atlanta to Savannah and the Sea – Gen. Joe Johnston’s Delaying Actions – Lincoln in a Landslide - Savannah Falls, a Christmas Present from Sherman to Lincoln – Then on to Charleston –- The Confederacy Unraveling – Recognition of the Inevitable is Sinking In.

Session 8. Grant’s Focus Moves to Petersburg – the Grinding Siege and the Long Hot Summer - Richmond Abandoned by Confederate Government – Gordon’s Last Attempt to Break Out – Grant’s Final Assault – Lee’s Final Retreat -Appomattox and the End – Surrender – Lincoln’s 2nd Inauguration – John Wilkes Booth Standing Nearby -- The Assassination and Aftermath – The Phases of Reconstruction - The Lives of Key Players After the War – What If They Had Done It Differently?????
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This schedule below may be tweaked based on time and pacing of lectures:

20th Century course outline offered at Daystar:

Class Session # 1
Introduction to the Chain of Historical Events – Causes and Results, Roots of French - German Hostility, Events Leading to the Franco Prussian War, the Northern and Southern German Confederation, the War Begins, Prussian Confederation Allies, the Fall of Napoleon III – Defeat and Capture, Creation of the 3rd French Republic, France’s Surrender, 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt – and the Seeds of War to Come.the

Class Session # 2
Otto von Bismarck & Creation of the German Nation State, “Realpolitik”, Wilhelm I & the Hohenzollern Dynasty, 1888- The Year of the Three Emperors, the Spanish American War, Dominance of “Realpolitik”, Tangle of European Alliances, the Ticking Time Bomb, 1914 & Sarajevo, Clash of Alliances & WWI Begins, US Isolationism & the “Atlantic Moat”, the US Enters the War, the Clash of Trench Warfare, Germany Sues for Peace, Kaiser Wilhelm Flees to the Netherlands, the Treaty of Versailles – the Seeds of Future Conflict are Sown

Class Session # 3
The Roaring 20’s, Clouds of Revolution in Russia, Cairo Conference of 1921, the Great Depression, from Hoover to Roosevelt, the Effects of Versailles, Rise of Hitler & the 3rd Reich, The Inter- War Period, German Violations of the Treaty of Versailles, Churchill’s Warnings, Chamberlain’s Appeasement and Hitler’s Subterfuge, Parallel Track – Russian Revolution, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky & Vladimir Lenin – Bolsheviks & Mensheviks, Overthrow of Czar Nicholas, the Rise of Stalin, Russia Become the USSR, Italian Fascism & Benito Mussolini,

Class Session # 4
WW II as Hitler Invades Poland, British & French Alliances with Poland are Triggered, Early German Success on the Western Front, The Fall of France & Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, US Ambivalence & Isolationist Mentality, FDR’s Lend Lease as Britain Stands Alone, Nazi Invasion of Russia - Operation Barbarossa, Russia’s Two Great Generals at Stalingrad, Japan’s Rise to Power, Part of the Axis Alliance, Economic and Military Buildup, Isolation from the West, Ultimatums and Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Theater Begins, Yamamoto – the Best They Had.

Class Session # 5
The North Africa Campaign, the Italian Campaign, the End of Mussolini, the Coming Allied Invasion of Western Europe – Years in the Making, Normandy and Beyond, Field Marshall Montgomery and Operation Market Garden. The Pacific War – Post Pearl Harbor, Doolittle’s Raid, the Battle of the Coral Sea, General Douglas MacArthur – a Soldier’s Story, the Battle of Midway and the Aleutians, The Pacific Theater After Midway, Island Hopping, the Southeast Asia War, British General William Slim, Battle of Leyte Gulf,- the End of Japan’s Navy, the Allied European Campaigns Begin to Strangle the Wehrmacht, Siege of Bastogne & Battle of the Bulge – the Turning Point,

Class Session # 6
Yalta Conference, the Death of Roosevelt – His Record & Legacy, the Final Victory in Europe Approaches, the Potsdam Conference – Now with Truman and Clement Atlee, the Manhattan Project, Tinian, the Enola Gay –“Little Boy” & Hiroshima, Japan’s Desperate Attempts to Avoid Surrender, Their negotiations with the Soviet Union, “Fat Man” and Nagasaki & the End of the Pacific War - Final Surrender on the USS Missouri., Surrender in Europe.

Class Session # 7
The Partition of Germany, a World Divided, the Plight of the Allied Nations, the Genius of George Marshall – the Architect of Victory, the Marshall Plan, Churchill’s Political Defeat & Warnings for the Future, Mao Zedong and China’s Transition, the Ascendency of the United States, the Berlin Blockade & Soviet Sub-Plot, NATO & the Warsaw Pact, Korea the U. S. & the UN to the Rescue, the Berlin Wall, the Cold War & New Alliances, a World Divided..

Class Session # 8
The Cuban Missile Crisis, US Economic & Financial History – Post W W II, the Creation of Israel as a Nation State, Independence of India, Organizations and Treaties – Organization of American States - OAS, South East Asia Treaty Organization - SEATO, Australia New Zealand United States - ANZUS, Joe McCarthy and the Red Scare of the ‘50s, the Legacy of our President’s – Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush.